Having called for his resignation just last week, it appears that the ‘interesting’ White House meeting with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has softened Donald Trump’s stance – at least for now.

The expected meeting between the US administration and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan seems to have gone as well as he could have hoped, after a torrid week or so where senator Tom Cotton wrote to the Intel board complaining of Tan’s ties to China, and Trump called for his immediate resignation.

Tan was forced to remind Intel staff in a public letter last week (7 August) that he has lived in the US for more than 40 years and that he loved the country, after Donald Trump wrote a social media post calling for him to resign over his ties to Chinese companies. This was just days after close Trump ally senator Tom Cotton wrote a letter to Intel’s board, complaining that Tan “controls dozens of Chinese companies and has a stake in hundreds of Chinese advanced-manufacturing and chip firms”, some of which he claimed had “ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army”.

“I met with Mr Lip-Bu Tan, of Intel, along with secretary of commerce, Howard Lutnick, and secretary of the treasury, Scott Bessent,” the US president said in a social media post yesterday (11 August).

“The meeting was a very interesting one. His success and rise is an amazing story. Mr Tan and my cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week.”

It is a word often used with this current administration, but this level of political intervention in corporate America is truly unprecedented and has drawn criticism from many quarters in recent days, after it has reportedly extracted commitments for a 15pc cut of revenues on any chips sold to China in return for export licences. Trump confirmed the conversation with chips giant Nvidia yesterday to the press, and indeed added he had originally looked for 20pc.

A statement from Intel described how Tan “had the honour of meeting with president Trump for a candid and constructive discussion on Intel’s commitment to strengthening US technology and manufacturing leadership”. It is a now familiar tone for US corporates who clearly feel obliged to flatter the US president in order to stay in his good graces.

“We appreciate the president’s strong leadership to advance these critical priorities and look forward to working closely with him and his administration as we restore this great American company,” the statement continued.

This all comes at a time when Trump’s stance with China also appears to be softening. Yet again yesterday he extended via executive order the deadline for higher tariffs on China to kick in, by his now standard 90 days.

All eyes will now be on what comes out of further talks between Intel and the administration, but those who are rooting for a successful Intel reorganisation, after it fell behind its competitors in the age of AI, will be relieved that this current storm appears to have passed.

Intel is a major employer in Ireland, and seems to have escaped the worst of the jobs cuts taking place under Tan’s turnaround plans for the one-time leader in semiconductors.

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By: DocMemory
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